Our top 10 places to visit in Paris mix a few famous sights, taken in the right order, with places Parisians use every day. The list: Sainte-Chapelle and the Musée d’Orsay, the Rodin garden, the free Musée Carnavalet, the Institut du Monde Arabe terrace, Montmartre, Place des Vosges, Canal Saint-Martin, the Jardin du Luxembourg and Père Lachaise. At each one, when you arrive and which entrance you use matter more than how long you queue.
The short list
10 places, in the order they appear below.
- 01Sainte-Chapelle13th-century stained glass1st arrondissement
- 02Musée d'OrsayImpressionist painting7th arrondissement
- 03Musée RodinBronzes in a garden7th arrondissement
- 04Musée CarnavaletParis history, free entry3rd arrondissement
- 05Institut du Monde ArabeA free view of Notre-Dame5th arrondissement
- 06MontmartreHilltop streets and views18th arrondissement
- 07Place des VosgesArcades and Victor Hugo's home4th arrondissement
- 08Canal Saint-MartinSunday walks by the locks10th and 11th
- 09Jardin du LuxembourgReading by a fountain6th arrondissement
- 10Père Lachaise CemeteryThe graves of Chopin and Piaf20th arrondissement
Which famous Paris sights are worth the visit?
Two of the big names earn their reputation if you plan the order of your visit. Sainte-Chapelle holds 600 square metres of stained glass, most of it original 13th-century work. The Musée d’Orsay started life as a railway station in 1900 and became a museum in 1986. Its collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting is the largest in the world.
Louis IX built the chapel between 1242 and 1248 to house relics that cost him three times as much as the building. We start in the lower chapel: low, vaulted, painted dark blue with gold fleurs-de-lis. Then climb to the upper chapel. It rises 20.5 metres, and its 15 windows tell 1,113 biblical scenes. Coming up from the dark makes the glass hit harder.
Sainte-Chapelle
Hours: Mon–Sun 09:00–17:00
Address: 10 Bd du Palais, 75001 Paris, Francia
At the Orsay, go straight up to the Impressionist galleries on level 5. The light from the roof is best there in the morning, and you stay ahead of the visitors who start on the ground floor. Take the side galleries on the way down. The middle floors often have more room than the ones above or below. Whistler’s portrait of his mother hangs here too; France bought it in 1891.
Musée d'Orsay
Hours: Mon closed · Tue–Wed 09:30–18:00 · Thu 09:30–21:45 · Fri–Sun 09:30–18:00
Address: Esplanade Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, 75007 Paris, Francia
Where can you see art in Paris without the crowds?
Smaller museums give you serious work and room to look at it. The Musée Rodin sells a garden-only ticket covering three hectares of bronzes. The Musée Carnavalet, the city’s museum of its own history, costs nothing to enter. Both sit in old mansions (the Hôtel Biron and the Hôtel Carnavalet), so the buildings are part of the visit.
The Rodin garden ticket costs less than full entry. It gets you The Thinker, The Burghers of Calais and The Gates of Hell, with the Invalides dome rising behind the back wall. Come on a weekday before 10am and the garden is close to silent.
Musée Rodin
Hours: Mon closed · Tue–Sun 10:00–17:45
Address: 77 Rue de Varenne, 75007 Paris, Francia
The Carnavalet tells the story of Paris from prehistory to now, across more than 100 rooms. In the revolution galleries you’ll see documents and personal objects from 1789 to 1794. Proust’s cork-lined bedroom, where he shut out the street noise, was moved here from his apartment. And most visitors walk straight past the Fouquet jewellery shop, an intact Belle Époque interior with fittings by Mucha.
Musée Carnavalet
Hours: Mon closed · Tue–Sun 10:00–18:00
Address: 23 Rue de Sévigné, 75003 Paris, Francia
Where can you look out over Paris?
From the ninth-floor terrace of the Institut du Monde Arabe, you look at Notre-Dame at eye level, 400 metres away across the Seine. Montmartre’s hill reaches 130 metres, the highest natural point in Paris. Approach it from behind: the back way up is calmer.
At the Institut, take the lift to the 9th floor and walk through the restaurant to the outdoor terrace on the east side. Entry is free, and it’s rarely crowded. Before going up, look at Jean Nouvel’s south facade. Its 240 panels draw on mashrabiya screens, and half of them have motorised diaphragms that open and close with the light. Give the astrolabes in the collection some time too.
Institut du Monde Arabe
Hours: Mon closed · Tue–Fri 10:00–18:00 · Sat–Sun 10:00–19:00
Address: 1 Rue des Fossés Saint-Bernard, 75005 Paris, Francia
For Montmartre, we get off line 12 at Abbesses rather than Anvers. From there, walk up Rue Lepic, the market street where Toulouse-Lautrec and Van Gogh both lived. About ten minutes later you reach the top from the back. The views are better and fewer people come up that way. On Rue Saint-Vincent, the Clos Montmartre vineyard still makes around 1,500 bottles a year.
Montmartre
Hours: Open 24 hours
Address: Montmartre, 75018 Parigi, Francia
Which Paris neighbourhoods are best for a walk?
For a slow half day on foot, pick the Marais around Place des Vosges or the banks of Canal Saint-Martin. Place des Vosges is the oldest planned square in France, arcaded on all four sides. Napoleon commissioned the canal, which was finished in 1825. Iron footbridges cross it, the locks are cranked by hand, poplars line the quais, and on Sunday mornings the quais are closed to cars.
Henri IV commissioned the square in 1605. All 36 facades share one design, red brick over arcaded galleries, and the covered walkway keeps you dry on a wet day. Victor Hugo lived at number 6 from 1832 to 1848. His apartment is now a free museum.
Place des Vosges
Hours: Open 24 hours
Address: Pl. des Vosges, 75004 Paris, Francia
The canal is 4.6 km long, but more than 2 km of it runs underground beneath the boulevards. Stick to the open stretches. By Rue Dieu, a metal footbridge crosses a lock with two parallel chambers, and the plane trees reflect in the still water. A barge needs about 20 minutes to pass through. That’s long enough to finish a coffee while you watch.
Canal Saint-Martin
Hours: Open 24 hours
Address: Canal Saint-Martin, Parigi, Francia
Where do Parisians go for quiet in the city?
Paris has a calmer side in parks like the Jardin du Luxembourg and in one very large cemetery. Père Lachaise covers 44 hectares and holds around 70,000 graves. Parisians go there for a walk or a picnic, or to sit and read, as much as to see the famous tombs.
In the Luxembourg, head for the Fontaine Médicis in the northeast corner. It’s a 50-metre basin under plane trees with a grotto at one end, and people come to read there in the morning. On the octagonal basin, children sail wooden model boats. Beehives have been kept behind a locked fence in the southeast corner since 1856.
Jardin du Luxembourg
Hours: Mon–Wed 07:30–19:15 · Thu 07:45–18:45 · Fri–Sun 07:30–19:15
Address: 75006 Paris, Francia
At Père Lachaise, most visitors head for Jim Morrison’s grave in Division 6, which is signposted and guarded. Chopin’s white marble tomb in Division 11 usually has flowers on it and draws far fewer people, even in high season. Édith Piaf lies in Division 97, in the far east corner; without a map she’s hard to find. Division 76 holds the Mur des Fédérés, where the last defenders of the Paris Commune were shot in 1871.
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Hours: Mon–Fri 08:00–18:00 · Sat 08:30–18:00 · Sun 09:00–18:00
Address: 75020 Paris, Francia
To get the most from this list, group places that share an area, such as the Orsay and the Rodin garden in the 7th. Several museums close one day a week, so check each card before you set out.
